Reproductive rights

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Reproductive rights is a controversial political term to refer to "women's rights" in areas of sexual reproduction, including the rights to reproduce (such as forced sterilization) as well as rights not to reproduce, (such as birth control, abortion).

Uncontroversially, the term represents the political framing of contraception and abortion as rights, particular to women, as women, exclusively, are the biological vessels of human reproduction. In this context, "reproductive rights" is largely synonymous with "pro-choice," meaning a position that a woman ought to be the decision maker in whether to bring her pregnancy to term. Many "pro-life" advocates claim that the term is simply mincing words —claiming there to be no practical (hence meaningful) difference between the two statements. However, supporters of reproductive rights may consider it misleading to say, in the context of reproduction politics, that a political figure "supports abortion", when instead that person may simply support a "woman's right to choose abortion among other alternatives." Supporters claim that such principle falls within the context of right to privacy, and freedom from "governmental interference" —supporting the "legalization of abortion" rather than "supporting abortion" itself. Still other reproductive rights advocates favor the term because they embrace a basic human rights moral justification for their position rather then the right to privacy logic of United States Constitutional interpretation.